Thinking Ahead: A Christmas Festival of Lessons & Carols (part 1 of 2)

Christmas

WORSHIP NOTES Volume 12, No. 6  (June 2017) Those of us involved in church music ministry know all to be well that it is high time that we were about making plans for our 2018 Christmas services. The publishers know that too: they have already been dumping new issues on us for a couple of months now. My now-grown children are grateful that they no longer have to be subjected […]

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ASCENDED ON HIGH

Ascension, Christ and Worship, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Majesty

WORSHIP NOTES Volume 12, No. 5  (May 2017) Thursday, May 25 is Ascension Day ( and Sunday, May 28, therefore celebrated as Ascension Sunday), commemorating the physical ascent of the risen Christ to the Father’s right hand in heaven, 40 days after Easter. The cosmic significance of the Ascension is often overlooked, after the joyous celebration of the Resurrection dissipates in the weeks following Easter. But the Heidelberg Cathechism (Question 49) highlights some of its consequences

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“with my song I give thanks to Him”

Church, Music, Psalms

WORSHIP NOTES Volume 12, No. 4  (April 2017) For the past two-and-a-half years, our church’s Worship Choir has embraced a theme verse: The LORD is my strength and my shield;        in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped;My heart exults,        and with my song I give thanks to Him.(Psalm 28:7) Our pastor’s wife painted this verse onto a long wooden plaque, which hangs

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Phrases: Musical “Sentences”

Music

WORSHIP NOTES Volume 12, No. 3  (March 2017) Phrasing in music is what rounds out musical thoughts, and enhances the beauty, balance and symmetry of the music. IN NATURE In nature, we find beauty, balance and symmetry. And beautiful objects are often not square, but rather curved and rounded off: IN ART In art, beauty, balance and symmetry are also important elements:: IN ENGLISH In English, sentences are rounded off with

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BIBLICAL OR CULTURAL? Non-Negotiables and Negotiables in Worship

Biblical Principles of Worship, Biblical vs. Cultural, Culture, Word and Worship

WORSHIP NOTES Volume 12, No. 2  (February 2017) I know of no church or denomination that does not desire to be biblical in its worship (no one is seeking to be unbiblical!). The question is what our “biblical” worship will look like. And this is where it gets tricky, because the New Testament gives us very little in terms of direct instruction or guidelines for what our worship services should

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The Worship of All Creation

Creation, Praise

WORSHIP NOTES Volume 12, No. 1  (January 2017) “The meaning of the universe is God going public for the glory of God.”(John Piper) CREATION’S PRAISE Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD,for He comes to judge the earth. (1 Chronicles 16:33) The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. (Psalm 19:1) Let heaven and earth praise Him,the seas and

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